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Fatima Bulla Sports Reporter
BRAD Garanganga, the father of Zimbabwe’s number one tennis player, Takanyi, has made a passionate plea to the nation to rescue his son’s career which is being hampered by lack of sponsorship. The 23-year-old suffered a career-threatening knee injury last week during a second round clash of the USTA Men’s Pro Circuit Binghamton Challenger in New York as he ousted sixth seed Rhyne Williams 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2.

Garanganga was coming off a failed bid two weeks ago to qualify for the ATP World Tour’s Hall of Fame Championships in Newport.
However, this was the second time Garanganga had reached a Challenger quarter-final after managing a similar feat in Mexico three months ago.

In addition, it was also a second straight victory over an American player for him as he had defeated Marcos Giran in the first round.
The knee injury hindered Garanganga from proceeding to the quarter-finals and he withdrew from the Lexington Singles Challenger played this week.
Garanganga has been fighting a lone battle without sponsorship.

“It is not just an injury but goes to show what Takanyi is lacking when he competes with other elite tennis players,” said Brad.
“We began a campaign to raise funds for Takanyi three, four years ago after realising that our income could not sustain his career on the elite level.
“He has had to work without a coach albeit for invitations from Brian DeVilliers, who normally calls on him to keep fit when he is in town.

“Other than that Takanyi has no coach and he travels alone in all the competitions he plays as we can no longer afford to pay the experts required.
“And now we have a challenge to source money for him to seek appropriate medical attention so that his career remains on track.”

Garanganga, who broke into the ATP’s top 300, has Zimbabwe’s only tennis gold medal won at the 2011 All-Africa Games.
As a junior, Garanganga won the African Junior Championships.

He reached a career-high junior ranking of No. 17 in the world and 298, as of April 2014, on the ATP World Tour.